Sunday, June 11, 2023

It's Locked! A Cozy Mystery Celebration: Interview With Lauren Elliott!


Hi, everyone! Today I'm happy to present an interview with Lauren Elliott, the author of the Beyond The Page Mysteries, and the Crystals & CuriosiTEAS Mysteries!

The newest book in your Beyond the Page series, DEDICATION TO MURDER, released in April! Would you like to tell everyone a little about it?

I’ll warn you that reviewers are calling this book a roller coaster ride of emotions, so grab a box of tissues and hang on tight. In Dedication to Murder, a first edition of The Velveteen Rabbit provides bookshop owner Addie Greyborne a telling clue to a cold case in her family’s past . . . To her surprise, a handwritten inscription on the title page provides a clue to unraveling a complex mystery in Addie’s family . . . But that’s not the only surprise in a series of shocking twists that will turn Addie’s vision of where her life is going and where she’s come from upside down—including a suspicious death in the present that suggests foul play. 

So, if you love cozies that are centered on bookstores and rare books, then you’re going to want to read this latest adventure of Addie Greyborne’s, her best friend Serena, the local tea merchant, along with the many other quirky characters found in the quaint seaside, fictional town of Greyborne Harbor Massachusetts. 

The next book in your series, Crystals & CuriosiTEAS, releases in November! Can you tell us a little about MURDER IN A CUP?

Since Murder in a Cup won’t be released until November 28, 2023, I think the best way to tell you something about the next book in the Crystals & CuriosiTEAS series is to let you read the cover blurb that has been provided by Kensington Publishing. 

As an eclectic tea shop owner descended from an Irish witch, intuitive Shay Myers has been living her most authentic life since moving home to California’s scenic Monterey Peninsula. Yet not even her heightened senses can predict how to run a business—or catch a killer . . .

Self-taught “seer” Shay has much to learn as autumn hits the quaint coastal town of Bray Harbor. Since attempting the art of blending herbs at her popular shop, Crystals & CuriosiTeas, she’s set on growing ingredients in the mysterious greenhouse on the second floor—if only she can separate the medicinal plants from the deadly ones. Her new skills are put to the test when she meets pub owner and ex-detective Liam Madigan’s Gran. A psychic from Ireland known for interpreting tea leaves and people, Gran encourages Shay to build upon her natural talents and hold her own group reading . . . 

Despite Shay’s reservations about putting herself in the spotlight, the evening goes off without a hitch. At least, until she does a reading and a customer goes from chatty to dead in a flash, poisoned after sipping a toxic substance recently grown in the greenhouse. Worse, Shay’s assistant is suspected of intentionally serving the lethal brew and committing cold-blooded murder. Now, aided only by Liam and her dog Spirit, Shay must exonerate her employee and save the future of Crystals & CuriosiTeas. But when clues start lining up like leaves in a teacup, she’ll need to understand the signs right in front of her to catch the manipulative murderer before it’s too late . . .

Random Question! What’s your favorite time of year?

I guess I’d have to say that I actually have two favorite times of the year. I love spring, the longer days and the time of birth and renewal with the smells of fresh grass and flowers in the air. Then again, there is Christmas, and let it be known that I’m a six-year-old at heart. I love everything about that holiday season. The lights, the sounds, families brought together, the giving and receiving of gifts shared between loved ones and friends and the food… yes, don’t let me forget about the food! 

If you’re able to talk about it, what are you currently working on?

Currently, I am in the process of writing A Limited Edition Murder, book ten in the Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery series. In this book, Addie is putting the pieces of her life back together after her life alternating experiences in book nine, while solving a couple of murders along the way of course. 

What are some of your favorite cozy mysteries? And what are some you’re looking forward to reading? 

With back to back deadlines I don’t get a lot of time to read for enjoyment these days, my reading usually revolves around research for my books. However, when I do have some down time, I generally read whodunit classics like Agatha Christie or my other go to escapism genre, gothic suspense.  

Thank you so much to Lauren Elliott for participating in this event!

Author Bio:  USA Today Best-Selling author Lauren Elliott grew up devouring the entire Nancy Drew series and then graduated to Victoria Holt, Agatha Christie, Barbara Erskine, Lynn Kurland, and Michael Crichton to name a few of her favorite authors. When it came time for post-secondary education, journalism seemed like the logical choice as she had written for as long as she could remember. Soon after graduation, while working for a small publication, she discovered that reporting wasn’t what fueled her writing passions.  As someone with an additionally strong background in professional theatre who had the love of storytelling and captivating and holding an audience, her fiction-writing career began to take centre stage.

Here Are A Few Links:

Her Website

Her Instagram

Her Facebook

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